Canadian diamond thieves finally arrested

Police from the York Region have arrested the Ontario couple that made headlines the past week for stealing a $10,000 diamond in New Brunswick and presumably two additional stones in Prince Edward Island.

Grigori Zaharov, 70, and Natalia Feldman, 44, were taken into custody following a Canada-wide warrant. The pair is expected to be transferred to Saint John, where they stole a one-carat diamond from W. Smith and Co. Fine Jewellers.

The thieves presented themselves as a couple arguing over how many carats to buy and, after asking the salesperson for a comparison chart, they switched the original stone they were looking at for a fake one.

Security cameras caught the whole incident on high definition videos and the store owner decided to release the footage in the hope someone could help nab the pair. And that’s exactly what happened. According to the Toronto Star, he was contacted by an informant who was able to identify the criminals and the information was later passed on to the authorities.

The Star also reports that Zaharov has a number of previous criminal charges, the most recent ones having been pressed in 2004 when police reportedly found him in possession of cash, gems, silverware, blank credit cards and allegedly altered Canadian passports.

On top of this, Saint John Police spokesperson Sgt. Charles Breen told The Canadian Press that the couple is also suspected to be connected to a string of similar heists nationwide.